WarriorsApprentice Page 21

  For a moment the three of them held themselves suspended, then they exploded into action, Huon driving into Tybor, the force of his thrusts pushing Tybor forward, rocking Judie, pushing her down into the mattress. She had had both men before, but this hard, driving pressure was new and powerful. Every thrust, surging through all three of them, cemented their bond, confirmed the love they shared.

  Her blood raced in her veins, her vision blurred and her heart galloped, but she refused to surrender to oblivion, wanting to extend the moment, the indescribable pleasure of their union.

  “I love you,” she heard Huon shout, and he bucked, driving Tybor hard into her. Tybor’s hands clamped around her sides and she knew he felt, for the first time, the man he loved spilling himself inside him.

  Tybor’s cock pulsed and he gave a wordless cry. Hot splashes of cum spurted against the walls of her vagina and she gave herself up to her own orgasm, coming in an overpowering rush.

  Tybor’s arms collapsed and he slumped over her, Huon plastered against his back, all three of them tangled together.

  Judie couldn’t breathe but it didn’t matter. If she died here, she would die of ecstasy. Even as the thought crossed her mind, Huon leaned over Tybor to kiss Judie. Then he smiled.

  Judie wanted to smile, but the weight of the two men made it hard to breathe. Tybor arched his back and withdrew, dislodging Huon at the same time. Huon rolled Tybor over and kissed him, slow, deep and infinitely tender. Just watching it made Judie’s toes tingle.

  “Are we good?” Huon asked him.

  “Yeah,” Tybor sighed, “we are.”

  Huon nudged Tybor with his hip and he in turn nudged Judie. She wriggled over and all three of them lay side by side on the bed.

  Huon rolled onto one elbow and looked at them both. “What do we do next?”

  “Sleep, I hope,” Tybor muttered. “You both need to remember I’m over eight hundred years old. If you’re planning another bout like that, I’m going to need more energy.”

  Huon cupped his hand over Tybor’s penis and laughed when it began to stir. “You’ve got plenty of energy, old man.” He yawned. “More than me, I suspect. But I wasn’t talking about that. What do we do in the long term? As nice as it is, we can’t stay in this apartment for much longer.”

  “We can go anywhere we like. I can get a job to support us until you two find something to do,” Judie said.

  “On the surface?” Tybor asked, his voice somber.

  “It would be best, wouldn’t it?” Judie asked. “Aren’t the Dvalinn authorities looking for you? And I don’t think your people would accept me or…our relationship. On the surface, no one would know and it would be…”

  She trailed off as she noticed both men now looked grim, their mouths set in hard, tight lines. “I know I’ll grow old and die long before you do. As long as we have what time together we can, I’ll be content.”

  “We can’t stay on the surface, Judie,” Tybor said, pushing himself up and rolling across Huon to get out of bed. He paced up and down across the room, unconcerned by his nakedness, a frown creasing his forehead. “Huon and I could not stay here indefinitely. We need to have a connection with the Underworld. You saw what happened to Huon before.”

  “But I thought that was only because his powers had been taken away. He has them back now, so he’ll be all right,” she insisted. “You didn’t get sick, Tybor.”

  “Because I wasn’t here long enough. Eventually I would have.” He stopped and turned to face them. “Sooner or later we will have to go back and once we do, we will have to face the consequences of our actions.”

  “Will they jail you?” she asked.

  “Probably,” Tybor replied.

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ll wait for you.” She looked from Tybor back to Huon. “You can go back when you need to and I’ll wait for you to return.”

  The agreement she expected didn’t come and neither man’s face lost an iota of its grimness.

  “There’s more, isn’t there?” she whispered.

  For a moment she thought they would refuse to answer, then Huon spoke quietly. “We are Dvalinn. You are human.”

  “I know that,” she exclaimed. “We’ve been through that.” She gestured to the tangled bedding. “I thought this proved it didn’t matter. I thought we’d moved beyond that.”

  “Our feelings have nothing to do with it. This is a matter of physiology.”

  A shard of pain pierced her chest. “Because Dvalinn age differently to humans. I know.” She looked from one to the other.

  “No, you don’t know, not all of it. Time passes differently in the Underworld. What may seem a short time there will be years for you. If we go back and are imprisoned, you may wait in vain for us to return.”

  “You mean you wouldn’t come back to me?”

  “We would come back,” Huon said starkly.

  It took a moment for Judie to understand. “But not to me. Because I wouldn’t be here. I’d be dead.”

  Tybor’s grim silence answered her.

  “Hopewood was the most dangerous Gatekeeper,” Huon said. “But there are others. If we stayed with you and they tracked us down, you could be killed. I…” He looked at Tybor. “We cannot take that risk.”

  “If there are other Gatekeepers, you can’t stay here,” Judie cried. “I saw what Hopewood did to you—I’d rather be without you than risk them finding you. Leave me here. Go back where you’ll be safe.”

  “It’s your safety I worry about,” Huon replied, his fists clenched, his expression bleak.

  The heavy weight of despair settled over Judie. Her chest ached and her eyes stung. Her body felt as if it had been tossed about in the stormy seas of love lost and regained, and to have that hope and joy snatched away from her left her feeling battered and broken.

  Huon’s hand clutched hers, his misery plain in the slumped lines of his body.

  Tybor was still standing, feet planted shoulder-width apart, arms as usual folded across his chest, his face expressionless. His body language gave nothing away. He’d given her and Huon more of himself than she’d ever expected. Had it been all he was capable of giving? Had regret for his moment of total abandon already set in? Perhaps the need to return to the Underworld gave him an excuse to escape once more from the emotions that overwhelmed him. He stared into some far-distant place where Judie could not follow.

  At last he turned his head and looked at the two of them clinging together on the bed. “We’re going back. Now.”

  Judie’s heart plummeted. She wanted to protest but her lips wouldn’t form the words.

  Huon’s already pale face bleached bone-white. “No.”

  “Yes,” Tybor insisted. “It’s the only way.”

  “But Judie…” Huon began.

  “Judie has more courage than anyone I know. She’ll survive,” Tybor said.

  Tears sprang to her eyes, spilled down her cheeks. “If I have to,” she said at last. “But couldn’t you wait just a little longer? A day? An hour.” Her voice shook pathetically.

  “What difference will an hour make?” Tybor replied.

  “Are you so keen to go back to face our punishment?” Huon asked.

  “Who said we’re going back to face punishment?” Tybor growled. “We can go somewhere isolated, avoid the authorities and any other Dvalinn. I can disguise myself enough to get what supplies we need whenever I have to. It will work.”

  “Will you come back to the surface world sometimes?” Judie asked with a tiny flicker of hope, hope that Tybor’s next words doused.

  “No. Why would we risk it?”

  To see me, she wanted to say, but the words died unspoken.

  Suddenly Tybor laughed. The cruelty cut her like the sharp edge of a razor. But then he took one stride across the room, sat on the edge of the bed and gathered both her and Huon into his arms.

  “The pair of you look like Hopewood himself has just materialized into the room. You don’t understand, do you?” He grinned and
the room seemed to warm. “I love you both and I will not be separated from you. Not in this world or the one below us. I’ve worked out a way we can live the way we want to. The three of us—together. We will find ourselves a space on the outskirts of one of the areas Hopewood destroyed in his attacks.”

  Huon gasped. “Will it work?”

  “I hope so,” Tybor replied. “Any Dvalinn who survived Hopewood’s attacks moved to a city for protection, so it won’t be hard for us to go unnoticed. And I think if Judie is living underground with us, it will eliminate the problem of time passing differently.” His smile wavered. “It won’t stop you aging faster than us, though.”

  “As you said, it’s a matter of physiology. We can’t change that,” Judie said. “It’s the best plan we have. I want to do it.”

  “It won’t be easy,” Tybor told her. “Once you’re there, we won’t be able to transport you back to the surface for a visit. The risk of detection would be too great and I don’t know how it would affect your response to the passing of time. You’ll miss the upper world and the sunshine more than you know.”

  “Not as much as I would miss you.” She looked around the room. “When do we leave? And what do I need to take with me?”

  “We leave now,” Tybor replied. “And you take nothing. Huon and I can work together to transport you, but it will be easier without any surface artifacts. We can get anything we need once we’re home.” He arched an eyebrow. “Although looking at you now, I may not include clothes in the lists of necessities.”

  A week ago she would have blushed at the thought of appearing naked around these two men, now the idea only made her eager to begin her new life. “Let’s go,” she said.

  * * * * *

  Two hours later they stood together in the shadow of an ancient tree on the island of San Michele. Tybor held out his hands. They formed a triangle, fingers linked to hold them together through whatever they faced.

  “I’m ready,” she said, and she meant it with her whole heart.

  She kept her eyes wide open and clung tightly to the hands of the two men she loved as the world she knew shimmered away.

  About the Author

  Alysha Ellis is a multi-published author who lives in Australia. When she isn’t busy drinking champagne, eating chocolate and letting her inner tart run free, she writes erotic fiction. Her favorite quote comes from Mae West… “A hard man is good to find.” Who could argue with that? Alysha tires very hard to be bad, because bad girls have all the fun.

  Alysha welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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  Also by Alysha Ellis

  Watching Amy

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

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  Warrior’s Apprentice

  ISBN 9781419934889

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Warrior’s Apprentice Copyright © 2012Alysha Ellis

  Edited by Rebecca Hill

  Cover design by Dar Albert

  Photos: Yuri Arcurs, Sapandr and Zacaria Pereira Da Mata/Shutterstock.com

  Electronic book publication May 2012

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